Overview
- A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi will begin arguments on January 21 on Uddhav Thackeray’s challenge to the ECI’s February 17, 2023 order granting the Shiv Sena name and ‘bow and arrow’ symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction, with three hours allotted per side.
- The court will hear the Nationalist Congress Party symbol case on January 22 due to overlapping legal questions raised by rival factions led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar.
- The BJP appointed Chandrashekhar Bawankule as Maharashtra election in‑charge, set up three‑minister district coordination committees with allies, and named 40 star campaigners for the local body polls.
- Opposition parties formed an MVA state‑level coordination committee and left first‑phase municipal tie‑ups to local units, with the inclusion of Raj Thackeray’s MNS still unresolved.
- Local strategies are diverging as the two NCP factions join forces in Chandgad while NCP (SP) rules out a reunion in Pune, and Eknath Shinde convenes a 21‑member BMC election panel with his camp seeking at least 100 of 227 wards.